Things Real Estate Agents Do That Professional Realtors Hate

Without a doubt one of the worst things about the real estate industry is the ease in which you can become a Realtor. What this does is create an environment in which those you would not describe as professionals joining the ranks.

This can create great frustrations for those in the trade who strive to be the best they can be on a daily basis. For this reason I have put together things real estate agents do that professional Realtors hate! If you are making any of these twenty real estate blunders it may be time to look in the mirror and reexamine your business acumen.

Lying About Home Values

Unfortunately one of the most common practices is real estate agents lying about home values in order to get a listing. This happens daily by agents who lack the skill to get a listing without pulling on the heart strings of an unsuspecting home owner.

Everyone wants to believe their home is worth more than the neighbors comparable home that just sold.

Agents who lack integrity could care less. They will tell you exactly what you want to hear to get a listing contract. This is bad for the industry. It puts a terrible taste in consumers mouths when they finally figure out they have been had.

Professional agents cringe when they lose a listing based on price. Misrepresenting home values is against the code of ethics, yet many agents make it a regular business practice.

Being Annoying in Social Media

There are some real estate agents who are so clueless when it comes to social media. They do incredibly stupid things that frankly make them look like IDIOTS!

Two big pet peeves are the agents who are constantly writing things in Facebook like “I am so busy today. I have 13 showings scheduled, I have already written 3 offers and have 4 closings to attend.

Everybody thinks I am the best real estate agent. In fact I just got 4 recommendations today on Yelp.” The reality is everyone thinks you are a BOOB, especially when they know you have only sold 6 homes the entire year!

Then there is the real estate agent who lives in Texas that thinks it is a good idea to invite everyone to their broker open house through social media. It doesn’t matter they’re sending the invite to someone who lives 8 states away.

Sorry I can’t make it maybe next time. Oh by the way I won’t be at your kids birthday party you invited me to either. Please get a clue! These are social media fails that make real estate agents look like morons.

Posting Listings in Social Media

This is right at the top of my pet peeves as a real estate agent! Social Media is not about advertising listings. Nobody cares that you just listed a 2 bedroom bungalow on Washington Street. Plastering your listings all over social media groups makes you look like that cheesy car salesman everyone despises.

Social media is about showcasing your knowledge as an expert. It is about being social with other pro’s in your field. It is about building your Real Estate brand. It is about reciprocating with others who help your business grow. Link dumping listings everywhere does none of that.

Not Returning Phone Calls and Emails

Not returning phone calls and emails in a timely fashion shows a real lack of communication skills. This is very common place with some agents.

The problem with this one is the fact it not only affects the professional agent but the clients involved in the transaction as well.

One agents crappy behavior can reflect poorly on an agent who has no problem communicating well.

One particularly frustrating thing that some real estates do is put a message on their voice mail that says “I only return calls at Noon and 5 p.m.” Really? Thanks Johnny important.

Don’t worry there will be nothing that important going on in our sale over the next 5 hours. Feel free to relax on your couch until then.

The agent that puts this ridiculous message on their voice mail has been told by some dip shit, self proclaimed guru, that this is a smart thing to do – NOT!

Not Providing Showing Feedback

Providing showing feedback is such a simple thing to do yet so many agents lack the common courtesy to do so. Most sellers want and expect their agent to let them know how the showing of their home went with the buyer. Who wouldn’t?

Sellers sometimes spend hours getting the house ready for showings.

They have people coming in at all hours of the day. Of course they want to know what these people are thinking. When agents don’t provide feedback it makes the listing agent look like they are not doing their job.

We are not looking for some long dissertation on the property either. If the buyer didn’t like the kitchen or the size of the backyard that’s fine. Just say that! Oh and please don’t tell me you don’t provide feedback because of some lawsuit that took place in 1987 where the agent got sued.

There are millions of homes shown every day and feedback is given. Pull up your big boy pants and stop using lawsuits as your justification for being a lame ass.

Promoting Open Houses as Being Necessary

Some Realtor’s will go out of their way to make open houses out to be the end all be all of real estate marketing. The dirty little secret however is that open houses are mostly done for the agents benefit and not the clients. There is no disputing the fact that open houses are not necessary to sell a home, as real buyers will schedule a showing to see a home they are interested in viewing.

Serious buyers do not say to themselves “no open house – I’m not interested”. If you think that sounds ridiculous it’s because it is. Lots of agents however, will try to make you think an open house is a vital part of the home selling process. It is not.

Open houses are done by agents who use the opportunity to prospect for clients. Rarely does an open house work to sell a home. There is a reason why nearly all top producing agents do not waste their time doing open houses. Professional real estate agents preach about the importance of having qualified buyers viewing a home, yet they throw this mantra out with the bath water when it comes to an open house.

Sending Clients to Open Houses

There are some agents who are just plain lazy and allergic to hard work. They will take the easy way out in everything. A good example of this is the agent who will tell their clients to attend open houses on anything they want to look at. Instead of getting off the beach or the ski slope they will have the buyer do all the leg work on finding a home. They will suggest to the buyer that if they find something let them know.

There are legitimate times when an agent cannot make a showing and will send them to an open house out of convenience. A professional in this circumstance will let the agent holding the open house know their client is going to be stopping by.

Exaggerating Listing Descriptions and Photography

There is no question some agents love to embellish when they clearly should not be. Misrepresenting a property does not make you look good as a listing agent.

Describing a run down shack on a piece of swampland is very different than a stunning home on a gorgeous piece of waterfront property. Yet this is what some agents do when describing properties in the multiple listing service and their advertising.

While this may be a little bit extreme some agents will go out of their way to make a property sound much better than it is. Example “this home needs a little TLC but has great bones.”

This of course sounds like a great property for that person who may be somewhat handy. When you get to the property and find out the home needs to be condemned, who does this help? The property is really just a lot.

Then there is the real estate agent who brings in a photographer who proceeds to make the 600 square foot bungalow look like the Taj Mahal.

This serves no purpose other than to make a buyer disappointed and a Realtor aggravated.

Presenting a Pre-Qual instead of a Pre-Approval Letter

Presenting a mortgage pre-qualification letter with an offer instead of a pre-approval letter happens to be one of my biggest pet peeves as an agent.

A pre-qualification letter is essentially worthless, yet some real estate agents are lazy or uneducated enough to know any better. The difference between a mortgage pre-qual and pre-approval is HUGE.

Every seller wants to know the buyer is qualified to purchase their home. In fact the buyer not getting the mortgage is probably one of their greatest fears.

When agents present a letter that amounts to nothing more than a worthless piece of garbage they are putting their clients in danger of losing the home they want to buy.

Show Homes to Buyers Who Are Not Qualified

Showing homes to a buyer who is not qualified for anything remotely close to the asking price is in poor taste. This goes hand in hand with the agent who provides a pre-qualification letter.

There are some agents who place the cart before the horse. When showing homes to anyone you should know they are qualified to get a mortgage. This is common sense but many agents lack that trait.

Discounting The Buyers Agents Commission

There are some real estate agents that will do anything to win a listing. One common tactic is to charge the seller less commission. The seller hires the agent because they think they are getting a great deal. WRONG!

The seller is not getting a great deal at all. What some agents will do is discount the buyer’s agent commission instead of taking it out of their own pocket.

This is a HUGE mistake that can cost sellers money in their pocket. You want buyers agents to be excited to show a listing not otherwise.

Accompanied Showings Only

There are some home owners who think it is necessary to have the listing agent present when showings occur at their at their property. Almost always the premise behind this desire is the belief that the listing agent is going to “sell the home.” Sorry folks but homes sell themselves.

Real Estate agents despite what you think, do not talk people into buying homes. People buy homes on emotion. They know whether they like the property moments after they have completed their tour.

The real estate agent pointing out you have Bose speakers in the family room, rare polished tiles in the master bath and a one of a kind Oak tree in the backyard is not going to sell the home.

In fact, they may want to chop down the tree, replace the tiles and get rid of the speakers. People don’t want to be sold anything. There are a number of reasons why accompanied home showings are a mistake. This is just one of them!

When an agent is scheduling a number of properties in multiple towns the last thing they want to see is a home where the listing agent has to be there. Guess what happen when the agent says they can only be there at 1 p.m and you are scheduled to be elsewhere? If you guessed a missed opportunity for the seller you are correct!

Exaggerating Home Inspection Items

This is another one of those things that real estate agents do that other Realtor’s can’t stand. There are some agents who make it a practice of asking for the moon after a home inspection even though it isn’t justified.

For example, when a home inspector says that there are five years of left left in a roof, that does not translate to the roof needs to be replaced.

Yet some Realtors will counsel their clients to ask for a roof replacement instead of properly educating them that the request isn’t reasonable.

It gets better. How about the agent who submits a punch list to repair everything in the home inspectors report?

You know the stain on the carpet in the living room that the buyer saw before writing their offer? They want it cleaned. Also please don’t forget to change the light bulb in the bathroom and prune the garden for the new buyer either. These are must complete items.

The buyer needs perfection when moving in. Give me a break!

Some real estate agents don’t have the balls to set an unreasonable client straight. Instead they submit ridiculous home inspection requests that alienate the seller and put a strain on the transaction.

The purpose of a home inspection is to find major mechanical, structural or other serious defects. It is not an opportunity to renegotiate the sale for every bit of minutia the buyer can think of they need addressed.

Not Having All The Paperwork With An Offer

When you present an offer I want a complete package not something half assessed that comes in drips and drabs. Give me the offer, your agency disclosure, the buyer’s mortgage pre-approval, a singed lead paint form if applicable, the buyers earnest money deposit and any other supporting documentation.

Letting a Client Use Zillow as Guidance For an Offer

There are some real estate agents who let their clients control the transaction. Instead of being “the professional” the agent lets the client run the show. You know this type of client – they know more about real estate than we do.

In fact they are going to tell you the offer they just wrote on your listing is a great one because the Zillow home value says so. Come on now you know Zillow is the cats meow when it comes to estimating home values. We all know that!

Promoting Zillow

There are a number of real estate agents that will cut their nose off in spite of their face, Thousands of agents go about promoting Zillow daily in social media and other places by liking, sharing, and pinning their content.

Many are dumb as dirt and will put Zillow widgets on their website giving them a great link.  These same agents will then complain that Zillow is dominating in search. They will bitch about having to pay Zillow for leads on their own listings. Unfortunately for agents that know better, this is part of why Zillow got to be where they are today.

Plagiarizing Another Agents Article

Those real estate agents who have a blog will appreciate this one! I would be willing to bet a large sum of money there is not another industry where there are more COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS than in Real Estate. I am going to be blunt here – some Real Estate agents are downright stupid and others who know exactly what they are doing when they copy another persons work. I don’t know which is worse.

Plagiarizing someones work and putting it out there as your own makes you a low life.

By now I realize this isn’t you copying my article, it is your administrator or assistant who didn’t realize what they are doing is wrong. I know already because this is the excuse I get 75% of the time. Come on loser, I am not as stupid as you are. Come up with something better please.

Real Estate agents know so little about what they can and cannot do when it comes to this topic. Copying someones article and putting a link to the author saying they are the author is NOT acceptable. Again stop listening to people who have no idea what they are talking about.

When you copy one of my articles and don’t remove it immediately I will file a DMCA request and have your website shut down. According to the Digital Millennial Copyright Act, your web host will have no choice but to take down your website.

Your Glamour Shots

This is mostly for you woman Realtor’s who insist on putting your glamour shot picture from 1995 on your business card and other marketing material.

You know back when you were 40 pounds lighter, had your hair done and wore make-up. When people see the real you they won’t be hiring. Just keep on doing what you’re doing we actually don’t mind.

Speaking Out of Turn

Have you ever gotten the feeling when talking to another agent they are speaking for their client. Except what the agent is saying and what the client is telling them are two different things. I know I have.

Speaking out of turn as an agent can really make a transaction go sour especially when the client finds out you were the cause of the transaction going down the tubes. Don’t do it.

Saying You Are a Million Dollar Producer

Saying your are a million dollar producer on all your marketing material was great back in the 1980’s when homes were much less expensive and there were far fewer agents. A million dollar producer today sells 4 homes. Congratulations.

Final Thoughts

These are just some of the things that lame real estate agents do that bug the real professionals in the industry. I am sure if you are a great agent you are reading this saying to yourself I have forgotten a number of others. I have no doubt your suggestion is probably correct because real estate agents are an annoying bunch!

This post was inspired by two other articles including things sellers do that bug real estate agents and what buyers do that annoy Realtor’s. It would not be fitting without having how real estate agents annoy other real estate agents!

A big hat tips goes of to friend and Raleigh North Carolina Real Estate agent, Ryan Fitzgerald, who encouraged me to write this article.

About the Author: The above Real Estate information on the things real estate agents do that professional Realtor’s hate was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 32+ Years.

Are you thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service Real Estate sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Natick, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton and Uxbridge MA.